Tech startups are among the many hundreds of innovators from various industries voicing opposition to a third proposed tranche of 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports (see 1808150002), comments in docket USTR-2016-0026 show. One such startup, Cao Gadgets, worries about the impact tariffs will have on its “family owned small business,” which develops wireless sensor tags for a variety of Internet of Things uses, commented owner Mike Cao. Four days of public hearings are to begin Aug. 20 on the proposed third tranche. Final comments in the docket are due Sept. 6.
The U.S. trade relationship with China "significantly impacts” Consumer Technology Association member companies, large and small, because they “rely on the global supply chain -- including China -- to conduct business,” said Sage Chandler, CTA vice president-international trade. She asked to appear at Aug. 20-23 public hearings to oppose 10 percent Section 301 tariffs proposed in a July 10 Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice. CTA members identified 302 tariff lines of Chinese imports in the notice, accounting for more than $109 billion in value, for which 10 percent duties “would be detrimental to their business,” Chandler said in her July 27 filing. CTA is still gathering “relevant data” on the tariffs’ possible impact on members, and the numbers she cited may need to be “updated” by the time written comments are due Aug. 17, she said.
The Consumer Technology Association wants the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to remove 54 tariff lines from the list of imports from China targeted for a second tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 duties, said Sage Chandler, vice president-international trade, in comments filed July 23 in docket USTR-2018-0018. Chandler also testified at the USTR’s public hearing on July 24. The 54 tariff lines were well more than double the 22 Harmonized Tariff Schedule product codes that Chandler said CTA members had identified nearly four weeks ago for exclusion from the new list of duties (see 1807100025). Tariffs on the proposed products “will harm the very industries they seek to protect, all while failing to influence China's behavior or help the administration's stated goal of eliminating China’s discriminatory trade practices,” Chandler said in her latest comments.
With the publication of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s notice in the July 11 Federal Register on procedures for requesting exclusions from Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports (see 1807100049), docket USTR-2018-0025 for posting such requests became active in the regulations.gov portal. No requests were posted yet as of International Trade Today's deadline. Exclusion requests are due by Oct. 9, and if granted will apply for a year retroactively to July 6, the notice said. Though Oct. 9 is the deadline for the exclusion requests, international trade lawyers at BakerHostetler are advising "clients to file as soon as possible in anticipation of the large administrative backlog that they expect,” the law firm said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 2-6 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on July 6 announced procedures for requesting product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on products from China, on the same day that the 25 percent tariffs took effect (see 1807060012). Exclusion requests will be due by Oct. 9, and if granted will apply retroactively starting from July 6. Exclusions will be made on a “product basis,” so “a particular exclusion will apply to all imports of the product, regardless of whether the importer filed a request,” USTR said.
CBP provided some details on the coming duty collections on Chinese goods covered by the Section 301 tariffs (see 1806150003) in a June 28 CSMS message. "In addition to reporting the Chapters 1-97 HTSUS classification of the imported merchandise, importers shall also report the 9903.88.01 special tariff number for goods subject to the additional duty assessment of 25% ad valorem as a result of the Section 301 trade remedy," CBP said. The tariffs only "apply to products of China, and are based on the country of origin, not country of export." CBP said the additional duties won't apply "to products for which entry is properly claimed under a heading or subheading in Chapter 98," which covers returned U.S. goods.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 18-22 in case they were missed.
Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee criticized Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on June 20 over the steel and aluminum tariffs and the implementation of granting exclusions for certain imports subject to those tariffs. Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill, who described a nail maker in her home state of Missouri who is laying off more than half its 500-person workforce as its inputs' cost increases, told him: "it appears to me a chaotic and, frankly, incompetent manner you're picking winners and losers." Only Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, asked supportive questions during the hearing on tariffs.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted information on submitting public comments on the new list of products proposed for Section 301 tariffs. The notice again lists the products from China that will see new tariffs starting July 6 (see 1806150003) but doesn't spell out the process for requesting product exclusions. Those details will come in a separate notice, USTR said. The agency's notice also "creates a new Chapter 99 subheading for entry purposes (entries of articles classified in the tariff subheadings identified in Annex A have to use the new Chapter 99 classification as a secondary classification, so the additional 25% duty can be assessed) and addresses foreign trade zone admissions," Baker & McKenzie lawyer Ted Murphy said said in a June 18 blog post